By Laura Walling, Senior Director of Government Relations, Goodwill Industries International
It has been a busy week in Congress. While the Senate has been focused on the impeachment trial, a Senate Committee also advanced President Biden’s nominees for Secretary of Labor, Mayor Marty Walsh, and Secretary of Education, Dr. Miguel Cardona. It is expected that their nominations will be taken up on the Senate floor soon after they return from recess the week of February 20.
On the House side, nine different committees held round-the-clock meetings to markup their portions of the COVID-19 package, dubbed the American Rescue Plan. The packages passed out of committee will go before the Budget Committee to be combined into one package and for their own review before the full House votes. Congress will be using a procedure called “reconciliation” to pass the bill, which will allow the Senate to pass it with a simple majority. Otherwise, they would need to obtain support from every Democrat and 10 Republican Senators to avoid a filibuster that could block the bill.
There were some promising developments on the #Relief4Charities issues and issues of importance to local Goodwill® organizations and the communities we serve in the packages that passed out of the House Committees. The Education and Labor Committee included more funding for worker protections, child care, schools and food assistance, among other items. The Ways and Means Committee expanded and increased the amount of federal unemployment insurance reimbursement given to nonprofits who self-insure. The Small Business Committee expanded access to the Paycheck Protection Program to certain nonprofits with more than 500 employees working across multiple locations. Chairwoman Velazquez mentioned the hard work of Goodwill and other nonprofits in her opening remarks. Lastly the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is meeting at the time of this writing, is expected to provide $350 billion in aid to states and localities in its package. Previous funding to states and localities has supported local nonprofits as well.
Join us in thanking members of the House of Representatives for their support, while noting areas that need to be improved upon in order to provide the most important types of #Relief4Charities.
Contact your members of Congress today.
Nonprofits like Goodwill have an important role to play in recovery efforts post pandemic, and we need support from Congress to help us do so. Thanks in advance for being a part of our Congressional outreach efforts.
